Rainwater that has fallen onto a windshield flows from a cowl top to a dashboard upper. A vehicle body front structure with a drain unit provided on the dashboard upper is known in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-270843 (PTL 1).
In the vehicle body front structure disclosed in PTL 1, a cowl top lower panel (dashboard lower panel) is located behind the engine room, and apron upper panels (upper frames) are located on the sides of the engine room. The upper ends of the upper frames and the upper end of the dashboard lower panel are connected by a hood hinge bracket (dashboard upper). The dashboard upper is partially overlaid on the upper ends of the upper frames. A drain hole that opens outward from the upper frame is formed in each overlaid gportion.
Rainwater that has fallen onto the windshield flows to the dashboard upper via the upper portion of the dashboard lower panel and is drained from the drain holes to the outside of the upper frames. This prevents the water from flowing into the engine room and splashing electric components. However, since the drain holes are formed in the upper frames of the vehicle body frame as well, there is room for improvement from the viewpoint of ensuring vehicle body rigidity and increasing shock absorption performance at impact. For example, a measure such as increasing the plate thickness of the upper frames is necessary.
To relax the shock of the secondary impact of a walker who collides with a vehicle, an automotive safety device is recently known, which raises the rear end of the front hood of the vehicle and increases the amount of deformation of the front hood caused by the secondary impact of the walker. Such an automotive safety device includes an operating unit configured to raise and hold the front hood. The operating unit employs a direct operated actuator formed from a cylinder and a piston rod. A high-pressure gas is generated in the cylinder, thereby moving the piston rod upward and raising the front hood. The operating unit is long in the vertical direction. The lower end of the operating unit displaces downward after the secondary impact of the walker.
The dashboard upper is arranged under the rear end of the front hood. Since the operating unit is long in the vertical direction, and a through hole or concave portion configured to retract the operating unit downward after the secondary impact of the walker is needed, it is necessary to form a through hole or a concave portion largely recessed downward in the dashboard upper. That is, a gap needs to be provided between the dashboard upper and the lower end of the operating unit that displaces downward to prevent interference between them. For this reason, the layout of members such as the dashboard upper and the operating unit is limited.